Home > Work > Perfectly Imperfect: The Art and Soul of Yoga Practice
1 " The yogis say you can never step into the same river twice, because the current is always shifting and changing. You've never stepped into this exact river before today. Not with this body, not with today's particular energy, with the specific number of bites of breakfast in your belly, with the earth tipped on its axis. Perhaps up until now you haven't had a breakthrough in this pose, but that was then. What's possible today? "
― , Perfectly Imperfect: The Art and Soul of Yoga Practice
2 " The less I'm in a hurry, the quicker the results seem to happen. With patience, the quality of my experience has a depth that can't be measured bon the clock, but by the timelessness of my experience. "
3 " There is no end to education. It is not that you read a book, pass an examination, and finish with education. The whole of life, from the moment you are born to the moment you die, is a process of learning. KRISHNAMURTI I "
4 " We live in a world that teaches the importance of ambition, efficiency, expediency, getting things done to produce the quickest results. It does not teach or encourage us to relax and just be where we are. In fact, if we are not crazy active and doing a million different things, we get labeled as lazy or unambitious. "
5 " All the work you’ve done up until now has been to lead you to this precise moment, to face precisely what you’re facing. "
6 " Yoga is a dance of dealing with what is, and allowing yourself to fully experience whatever you’re experiencing right here, in the moment. In life, we so often resist what we don’t like or don’t want to do. Here, on your mat, is a safe opportunity to see what’s on the other side of that. Physical asana is a measure of some higher possibility. Put your attention on what you want to have happen and be for it, and watch the magic unfold. "
7 " I see a real yogi as a someone who is committed to growth and to being the best version of themselves, and, at the same time, is courageous enough to be fully present and authentic in each moment. Someone who is not afraid to get real about the whole mess of who they are - the good, the bad, and the ugly "
8 " Samadhi, which translates to 'neutral vision.' Sama means 'even' or 'neutral', and dhi means 'vision' or 'seeing.' Neutral vision means to see without judging. No appreciating nor condemning; simply looking. "
9 " the ones who get to the idea that resisting what is so is actually causing them greater emotional suffering than the illness itself. Accepting what was going on allowed them to flow with the new demands of their bodies in a much more empowered way. "
10 " The mind is a friend or it is a foe. "
11 " You have thoughts, but you are not your thoughts—and they definitely don’t have to run the show. You "
12 " Be a drop, a stream, or a raging river—it doesn’t matter which form you take, as long as you remain in the flow "
13 " Yoga is a perfectly imperfect practice, and the very next day we may hit a plateau that can slow us down or even stall us indefinitely. You know you have flow in your practice when you reach such a plateau and don't automatically react with frustration and anger. "
14 " just remember that doing anything that begins to shift the pattern and lessen the gravity of suffering or frustration is a breakthrough. "
15 " the whisperings from the heart are always authentic and singular in their focus. The heart knows what it wants. The "
16 " If you want to reach someplace new, you have to do something different than you’ve always done. Same actions will only yield the same results. "
17 " As you sit there dealing with your own mind, remember this: when interacting with thoughts in your head, or when interacting with another person in life, and something is thought or said to you that upsets you and makes you want to fight or flee, wait twenty-four hours before you respond. "
18 " Of course we want to perform the poses with a focus on intelligent mechanics of body movement ... and push ourselves to the point of discomfort in order to create new results. But, at the same time, we want to be detached from insatiably perfecting that form and instead seek and create a depth of experience. "
19 " On the surface, we may look polished and “perfect,” but hiding our true self in all its dimensions saps our life energy and robs us of the freedom to express ourselves genuinely, from the heart. Hiding leaves you with the experience of feeling splintered and having lost yourself. You can have the fabulous yoga outfit; know the name of every pose in Sanskrit; and even have a beautiful, super-flexible, strong practice. But the real question to ask is “Where are you in all of that?” And, even more, “What is hiding behind all those trappings costing you?” So "
20 " It requires something extraordinary for any of us to really get to a true and connected relatedness to our breath, and the impact of it on our bodies, energy, and movement. As "
